Not As It May Seem
by Sakura Fletcher
Summary: My first TMNT fic. Something of a DonOC going on for right now. It's really hard to explain, so just read and maybe it will be clear. Just remember, it may not be as it appears, some times. Rated T for the themes involved in here.
1. Chapter 1

I had been in this forest forever and it seemed like not a soul ever passed through it. I was usually alone, save for the creatures that lived within the forest, and I hardly ever got any visitors. But then in walks something that was not natural, not normal.

This creature walked like me, talked like me but had a shell like a turtle. A walking, talking turtle. He wore a violet or purple bandanna over his eyes, but there were holes for him to see out of. Even from my place on the rock, this turtle being was carrying a long staff attached to his back, um shell. The moment he looked at me, and I to him, he stopped. But I got the impression that he was not evil, or a threat to the forest.

"Uh, hi." He gave a wave. This turtle being had three fingers on his hands and a little more investigation on my part showed that he had only two toes.

"Greetings, Turtle. You are a turtle, aren't you?" I asked sliding off the rock I was perched on.

"Um, yeah. I'm a turtle. Who are you?"

"I'm called Morgan. And your name?" I asked as I came to stand in front of him.

"I'm Donatello."

My mind went back to a painter, who lived some time in the past. Ah yes, the Renaissance painter. But this was no painting come to life, he was something different. This made it so I had to look him over again. Apparently that made the green creature even more anxious.

"Where am I?" He finally asked me.

"You're in my forest. How did you get here? I know all the creatures in my forest but I don't think I know you." I studied him, head to toe and toe to head. "So, what kind of creature are you? I mean besides the obvious turtle features."

"I'm a mutant turtle. Um, you're not scared of me." It was a statement, not a question.

"Should I be?" I leaned slightly to the side to look at his shell. It was dinged up in places, no doubt there were stories behind them but I wasn't going to push the issue.

"No, you shouldn't be afraid of me." I smiled back at him gratefully. "I just don't know how I got here. I swear, I was asleep at my desk in my lab and then I'm here."

"Well, now that you're here, how about I ask you something? If I teach you something then you must teach me something."

"Like what?" He asked, his brows rising slightly.

"If you teach me how to use your weapon, I'll teach you some of my defenses." I said, holding my hands open.

"Um." He looked me over as I had done him. "I don't know."

"Well if you ever come back the offer is still open." I flipped my hand as I walked towards the bolder.

"Can I ask you some questions?" He asked as he approached my previous lounging spot.

"If you must. But it will depend on the questions on whether if I will answer them or not." I responded hopping up onto the bolder and leaning back. "What are your questions?"

"Well, aren't you afraid of me?" He asked.

I gave a slight laugh, my head tilting up slightly, showing him my neck. "You're a turtle, why should I be afraid of a turtle who carries around a long pole like yours?" I asked, indicating behind him where there was a stick pole thing appearing over his shoulder.

Apparently I did not answer that question right. His eye ridges shot up, his mouth turned down and head slightly turned to the right as if I was the creature to him. Maybe I was. Maybe I was different than what he had assumed.

"It's called a bo staff, just so you know."

"Oh, a staff. Something as simple as a walking stick is unassuming." I sat up, holding the knee of the leg that was bent under me. "Of course, a staff would be an excellent weapon for a trickster because of it unassuming nature."

"Some how, some way, I actually understood what you said and most people just stare at me strangely when I speak my techno geek lingo."

"Is that surprising to you, Donatello?" I asked, my own head tilting as I kept looking at him.

"Most of the time it is. I have to 'dumb' down my language so that the others can understand me." Then his head snapped up and his shoulders got rigid. His clad covered eyes opened wide in shock, teeth bared but not in a bad way. "You weren't supposed to know that."

I shrugged. "There are things that people either aren't supposed to know and things they don't know for a purpose. So there are others like you then, Donatello?" I asked.

He made a noise, refusing to meet my eyes now. Ah, so there were more of these mutant turtles. That was actually quite alluring, considering that there weren't many that could handle crossing over into this forest. In a place like this, only those really capable could come into it. He must have been one special case. And he was a human experiment gone wrong, no doubt. I had heard horror stories of that going on in recent times.

"Ah, but since we don't know each other all that well, let us drop the subject then. Would you like to sit down, Donatello." I patted the rock next to me.

"No, I really need to get going. I need to get back home. Uh, how do I get out of here?" He lifted his arms slightly, hands raised in question to the trees that surrounded us.

"Going back the way that you have come from usually helps." I pointed in the direction I had seen him come from. "So, if you just go back that way, you may find your way out of here."

He faltered a little, between looking at me and the way he had come from, it was like he was considering things.

"If you come back again at any time, you'll be a welcomed guest." I assured him. "People come and go, but always remember to hang on to the memory of them that way you're not lost without them."

"Thanks, that means a lot." He mumbled, before heading off to where I had pointed to.

He was a unique creature, I'll give him that. As I mused over the thought of this turtle creature named Donatello, I had an unexpected, but welcoming visitor to my favorite spot in the forest.

"He'll be back." I heard a voice say, making me looked over my shoulder.

It was a figure I knew all too well. He kept me company from time to time, during the light time of the year. And as usually the Hound was with him.

"I suppose you are correct, friend. But much like him, there is more to this than just as what it appears to be."

"I think he's smart enough to realize what it is, in time at least, once he's grasped that not everything is what it appears to be here." He replied.

And that much I did know.

* * *

What made Donatello realize that he had been sleeping was that his neck hurt. He'd been laying on his arms for most of the night, at least. Blinking at the pain he had experienced in his head, he sat up. It was still fairly early, in that Leonardo and Master Splinter weren't up yet doing their early morning routines.

Slowly and steadily, the purple clad turtle rose from his chair, popping all of the stiff muscles in his neck. Though when Raphael had done it, it sounded gross, but now he understood why his brother did it. It released some of the tension that causing the headache in the first place. He eased up and then sat back in his chair wondering what had woken him up.

The dream, it had been that dream with weird woman. The raven haired woman with the green eyes. She had some sort of accent, one that he thought he had heard from a movie he once saw. And she wore a pair of basic black slack like pants and thin strapped top. She also wore a funny necklace around her neck. Grabbing a piece of paper nearby, Donatello roughly sketched out what he remembered of the necklace. It was the easiest thing for him, because of it's star like dimensions and the intricate weave patterns around the edge of the pendant. Once he was satisfied with what he had drawn, Donatello yawned and proceeded to head back to his room for a few more hours of sleep.

Not that he was hoping to visit that forest dream again. And yet he laid there in his bed, looking up at the cold dark ceiling of his room. Questions clouded his brain, questions that made it more difficult to go back to sleep. Where had he gone? Was it really a dream? Who was this Morgan person? As it stood, what was her intentions with him, if she had any at least. What kind of woman was she to not be afraid of him. He was the methodical one of his brothers, always trying to understand things through science.

"But when science is the factor in the equation, how do I figure out what happened?" He asked himself out loud.

Some time later, Michaelangelo came knocking on his door. "Donnie, hey you in here?"

Sitting up, Donatello looked at his brother. "Yeah," he sighed. "I'm in here. I'll be out in a minute."

"Something bothering you, Bro. You usually like totally sleep in your lab or at your desk."

"Yeah, I know. I did that all ready. I thought I would get some better quality sleep in my own bed but apparently I was wrong." Donatello stood up from his bed. "I'm fine, Mikey, you don't need to look at me like that. I'll be down in a little bit."

"Whatever you say, Bro. But you know how Raph gets when he's waiting to get training going." Mikey shuddered before leaving Donatello's door.

Of all the brothers, Donatello was more compatible with Mikey. Sure he had a strong bond with Leonardo as well, but Mikey just seemed to…though there were times when they both shared similar interests, like in videogames and such, it seemed like Donatello could count on Mikey having his shell when the time comes. And though he was the goofball of the group, Mikey was a skilled and trained ninja, like when he had attacked the Foot Tech Ninja that was going to drop Casey down into a churning vortex of water in the sewer. Using the Way of Invisibility that Master Splinter had taught them. Mikey always seemed to surprise people at the very last moment.

As Donatello got down to the training area in the lair where the four mutant turtles and their mutant rat sensai would usually train, he had a sneaking suspicion. Was it his imagination or did his Sensai look at him strangely? It was the way the old rat would look at someone, as if sensing something about them. Could he tell that Donatello had that all too real dream last night.

"Finally made it up to your room last night, Don?" Raphael asked, leaning up against one of the sloping walls of the rounded floor where he was at.

"Yeah, something like that." He mumbled, not trying to look in his brother's direction.

"Today's training, my sons," Master Splinter said as the four turtles gathered in front of him. "Is not going to be about fighting, or training with weapons. Today we will sharpen your minds." He said as he proceeded to sit cross legged on the floor.

All four of them proceeded to follow their master's example.

"Ah, come on Master Splinter, I always fall asleep during meditation lessons." Mikey groaned from his place next to Donatello.

"It is a test for you to understand how your mind works, my son. A sound mind is the perfect weapon for any danger you are faced with." The rat said.

Donatello was nervous about this. If it worked, would he go back to the forest? Would he see that woman again? It was just a dream after all, it wasn't real.

But the part that bothered him, was how real it felt. Everything, from the way she touched him, to how the grass and some of the pebbles felt against his feet. It only made him more tense just thinking about it. But why would he be so scared to go back there. It was welcoming. Or was that just a cover?

"My son, what troubles you?" Master Splinter asked.

"Can you go to places in your dreams if you've never been there." Donatello asked, earning a confused stare down from his brothers. "Never mind, it was a question."

"Anything can happen to a soul in a state of rest, Donatello. Your mind is your essence, and in essence your soul. There is much to be learned, my son. Even I am no expert in such matters, though I try when I can, to be one with my mind and see where it will take me."

"Uh, Sensai, I have no idea what you just said." Mikey said.

"I do. And thanks, Sensai." Donatello bowed to him from his sitting position.

"Now, begin your breathing exercises. Go deeper into yourself than you've ever done before." Master Splinter said, closing his mind.

Regardless of the fact that Mikey was fidgeting around next to him, Donatello tried. Everything went dark as he concentrated on his heart rate, willing it to slow down. Calming every muscle in his body, trying to relax and let go of the thoughts that ran through his head.

And suddenly, as before, he was there again. He was walking through that forest, as he had done before in his dream. He could tell it was the same forest, it was light, bright and it felt warm against his skin. He was aware of everything more now. And even though he had not really paid attention to it, it was different this time. And the moment he walked to the clearing, that all too familiar feeling, there she was. His dark haired beauty. His? What and where the shell did that come from, Donatello wondered as she stood there watching him with amusement.

"Donatello, I wasn't expecting you back so soon." Morgan smiled as she made her way towards him.

* * *

**I hoped you guys liked this first chapter. Seems like it's always the hardest to get down, you know. **

**So what do you guys think? I'd love to know how all of you feel about this. Thanks.**


	2. Chapter 2

**-(Morgan)-**

I hadn't expected to see Donatello to return the forest so soon.

"This is a dream." He said, looking around us, at the trees, at the sky that shown brightly above. "This is nothing more than a dream."

"In dreams, do you feel anything?" I asked, a tilt to my head showing that I was intrigued by his assumption. "You can feel the grass beneath your toes, you feel the breeze that blows through here, am I right?"

He stopped to look up, look down and look over his shoulder. Sure there was a breeze today, I was getting bored with the stillness and opted to let the scent of flowers float through the clearing.

"I guess. But…I don't understand. What is this place?"

"What's the fun if you can't figure it out on your own." I stepped closer, tapping the plastron where his heart lay under it. "Use your heart, Donatello. It will tell you what you need to know."

His hand grasped mine, causing both of us to freeze. Not in fear but in curiosity. He didn't know me and I didn't really know him. But only those suitable were capable of coming here. He had to realize it.

"It's a dimension of some sort." He said, pushing my hand away from him.

"Aye, you could say that in a way." I nodded turning away from him. "Well, what do you want to know?"

"Who are you, what are you really?" He asked, following me back to my favored spot.

"I'm neither here or there, but sort of everywhere." I answered vaguely, but it was true. "I'm a figure to a much larger picture, one that is superior to my own. I guess you could say that I help my mother tend to those she thinks is worthy to enter into the forest." I hopped up onto the stone. "But, I suppose you would like a clearer answer, am I right?"

"Uh, yeah that would help."

"You see, some things are not always as they seem. Sure this is a forest, you can see that. You can feel it also, I'm sure. But beyond what is here, there is more to it that you have not found yet. And until you find what's beyond it, well, I guess you'll have to be grateful for my presence and not something else."

"Something else, so you aren't alone here?"

"No, Donatello." I saw him pale in green color, paler than what he usually looked. "But everything is neither all good or all bad, some times it's a shade of grey, with a little of both mixed in."

"Now you're down right confusing me." He said, rubbing his bald head.

"As I suspect it will at first." I thought about it. "You know, the only male that comes through here is a friend of mine. Male mortals don't seem to find their way to this forest, at all actually. Sure a few women have in time, a queen or priestess of some time, but that is all." I said thinking about it. "You would be the first welcomed male here."

"What about my brothers?"

"Well now, that's for them to decide, isn't it?" I asked. "After all, you're here on your own free will. I'm not forcing you to stay or to go." I smiled at him playfully. "Though I wish you would stay around for a while, I like having you here. It beats the boredom of everything I live with here."

"But you said there are creatures here…"

"Ah, aye, that I did, Donatello. But creatures are of habit, they stay with there own. They come around, sure, but they have their own lives here. Who am I to force them to entertain me. Free will is for everyone, free thought and the sort."

"I'm not sure if I follow anything you are saying, Morgan." His three fingered hand rubbed his head, which went down to his neck.

"What I am trying to get at, friend, is that it's up to you to decide what everything is to you. I'm not forcing you to believe them. Beliefs are one's way to assess their surrounding, putting labels to things I would say. Also to believe in something is to believe in yourself." "I doubt myself a lot when it comes to experiments that I do."

"Is that how you got your form, an experiment gone wrong?" Now this I wanted to hear.

"No, it's, uh complicating to talk about."

"But you're not the one to cause this look, your turtle form, right?" I pressed.

"No, it was an accident, for my brothers and my sen, my father."

"Your father is a turtle too?"

He shook his head. "It's complicated. He's a rat."

"Rat's a resourceful creatures, they can hide and be undetected easily, causing damage from within. Many great forts have fallen by the tiniest means of Nature." I said, indicating tiny with my thumb and index finger.

"Yeah, he's resourceful, when it came to raising us." Donatello said, turning from me to look around. "I should probably get going. I think I need to get back now."

"Then by all means, go ahead." I motioned for him as I slid off the rock again. "But can I request something, turtle friend?"

"Sure, I guess." He looked back at me.

I didn't give him a chance to answer, as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, drawing him to me. Body to body, my flesh to his hard plastron, I relished in the slightly bumpy feeling of Donatello's skin against my cheek. He was surprisingly warm, for a cold blooded turtle. And after a brief moment of shock on his part, I felt his arms slide around my middle, hugging me back.

"This is what friends do, Donatello. You are welcome to it any time you come here. Maybe next time we can learn each other defenses more."

"I uh, I've been told not to train anyone."

"You're not training me. You're showing me. And I will show you my defenses as payment." I answered, smiling at him. "I guess it's time for us to go our ways now."

"Yeah, I guess. I'll see you around, Morgan."

"As I hope so, Donatello." I smiled before he walked off in the direction he had come from.

I liked him. I really did. Donatello was different, so open to anything because he himself was different. But, I frowned when it dawned on me. How would he react when finding out what I really was, and what this place was?

I decided to cross that bridge when we got there.

* * *

**-(Donatello)-**

Donatello felt himself wake from that state of mind, to him sitting on the hard stone floor of the lair. Feeling his muscles coming back to life, feeling them waken up with him. Slowly he opened his eyes as he became more aware of his surroundings.

"Dude, where'd you go?" Donatello was aware of Mikey asking him.

Mikey was kneeling next to him, a hand on his shoulder. Sure his little brother could be a pain in the shell some times but right then even Donatello didn't know how to answer. Each of his brothers were kneeling next to where he was still sitting, Master Splinter was looking over Leo's shoulder, also a questioning look to his own rat features.

"I, I, I don't know really. I think I went back to the dream I had last night. But it felt so weird." He clamped a hand over the top of his head.

"And what was it?" Raph asked.

"Just a nice forest, and I walk through it to get to a clearing, you know. But I am not the only one there. There is a, human, a woman. She had black as night hair, she had on what I think were black clothing, but not ugly. She looked at me and…" Donatello stopped because he thought he was over indulging in the matter.

"And what? Did she scream at you?" Mikey asked.

"Just the opposite. She welcomed me." Let out a sigh of frustration Donatello stood up. "I need to go get something to eat. I'm really hungry for some strange reason and I don't know why."

"Because you went to another realm of existence, my son." Master Splinter said.

"A realm of existence, like an alternate dimension?" Donatello asked the rat.

"Sort of, but there are more out there that is even beyond my reasoning, my son. If this continues, though, I want to know."

Donatello gave and exagerated sigh. "I can't help it, I think. Last night int the dream was the first time it happened. I didn't want to go there again."

"But you did this time." Leo said pointedly.

"I don't think I want to go back there again. It's just too confusing. She's too confusing."

"She, the woman you mean?" Raph asked as Donatello headed for the kitchen.

"Yeah, that's what I meant."

Luckily none of his brothers tried to talk to him again. After making something to eat, after deciding that tinkering might be a good way to get his mind off things, Donatello decided to go off on his own. He was a turtle of science, not fantasy as it seemed that Morgan was, and that place too. She just plainly accepted him, assuring him that in a not so obvious way that he was welcomed. He felt like he didn't have to hide in the darkness, not from Morgan. Probably because she probably would find him anyway.

Even when tinkering showed no sign of taking his mind of the woman and the forest, Donatello sighed and sat back in his chair. His head felt like it was going to explode with all this thinking.

Something caught his attention, the star design from that woman's necklace was sitting next to his computer, begging to be analyzed. Picking up the drawing he did analyze it. Though it wasn't a complete, not by a long shot, nor was his rendering much more than chicken scratch, it still intrigued him. A star in a circle with twirling spirals at the edge of the circle. For some reason it mesmerized him, it compelled him in certain ways to rethink his standing with his experience.

Pulling up a search engine on his computer, Donatello typed in 'star in a circle' and waited for the listing to show up. And when they did he was in for a shock.

To say he was looking at a mass of possibly reasons why Morgan would wear that pendant, he clicked the first site that he came to. Hoping it would yield some positive results.


End file.
